You need to get calories from somewhere, should it be from carbohydrate or fat?

Sunday, June 21, 2015

An embarrassment of cress

Happy Solstice all.

I have to admit to having done something embarrassing. I grew some cress. Two lots in fact. One was on the dining room windowsill as a control, the other was sandwiched between a wireless router and an Apple base station, about 30 feet from the first tray.

Both grew. The dining room window plate:

And here is the plate growing between the router and the Apple base station:

I know there are two wifi routers there in the picture as well as the base station but the second one was only turned on for the last two days of the six day growth period shown here.

Tasted as good as cress ever does. Not something I rave about personally.

Unfortunately I set the experimental seeds to sprout before we had eaten all the cress which Daniel has growing on the kitchen windowsill as a routine:

Well duh, as my daughter (frequently) says. There is a limit to how much cress a given household can consume, even with Daniel liking vegetables. I'm also embarrassed that I even contemplated that the cress might fail to germinate next to the router(s).

24 comments:

Greens compliment perfectly a high-fat diet. During the time when I was logging all I ate, I noticed how little salads and LC vegetables added to my nutrition intake , while dressings (olive oil/butter/sourcream) were changing logged numbers fast.

I hike almost every day through my local national park, the first established in Australia. The trail I like best is the Nookoo-Kaloola. I navigate a rather territorial emu and accost tribes of wallabies who comically freeze in motionless alarm on being spotted, excepting their chewing. Along the Kaloola track, I regularly see a few solitary koalas perched in a eucalyptus. There are plentiful crows and rainbow lorikeets, and many other birds gliding about before sunset. This trail is also a main route for electrical pylons delivering considerable voltages across the hills for many kilometers. The koalas and birds are not perturbed enough to find a tree to nestle or flit about in elsewhere despite plenty of choice. Wallabies seem indifferent too. And the koalas aren't that territorial: in my observation, they travel, and try out different trees, and never seem to loiter again in the same spot. The process of choosing a tree is done with care, they'll sniff and gaze about and choose with great consideration, sometimes clambering up and down several trees before settling. Electrosmog/ emf's aren't on the koalas agenda here, in fact they appear quite at home.

Peter-found your blog thru Dr. Eades and it is amazing even though most of it goes over my art historian trained head. I read and re-read all your postings. I suffer from late onset Ulcerative Colitis and though I am in remission from my diet, I still have peripheral flare-ups. I feel sure that there is a link between these and the level of inflammation in my body. I am in agony with tendonosis in my foot right now and wonder if there are any studies on autoimmune disease and and the causes of the peripheral flare ups in eyes, gout, etc. Every so grateful. Judith Johnson

In most traditional recipes vegetables act as fat-collecting/fat flavoring agents. Here are some examples:

Eggplants and zucchinis are perfect sponges. It is challenging to cook a sliced eggplant when you don't have enough oil at home. I use a Foreman grill just for convenience. I hate it when most of available cooking fat is suddenly gone.

Mediterranean cuisine represents almost anything swimming in an olive oil (probably in attempt to mask the terrible taste of an authentic virgin olive oil) which makes food high in calories and palatable.

I live now in one of southern states in US. They cook Collard Greens here - leafy weeds related to a cabbage. In order to make it properly people boil smoked meats/smoked pork feet for hours first, then add the weeds from Brassica family, hot souse, some butter - and vuola! - you have your healthy vegetables.

@Peter, I think the aubergine-based lasagna is much tastier than the one made with a pasta.

@Judith,Such connection was observed in horses - http://thatpaleoguy.com/2011/10/10/neolithic-equids-why-the-long-face/. Their diet-related metabolic syndrome manifests itself in GI problems and an inflammation of feet "The term Equine Grain-Associated Disorders is used to describe both digestive and metabolic disorders in horses. The digestive disturbances involve rapid carbohydrate fermentation and insulin resistance, including some forms of colic, colitis, diarrhea, gastric ulcers and laminitis. " We do not have similar digestive system, of course, but inflammation symptoms in us also may involve the whole body.

I’ve the other IBD, so my observations may not explicitly translate, but FWIW...: I have previously tried the Gottschall, Gaps and a lchf> now vlc/keto diet, which have helped, but not entirely. I sought advice here <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/06033967899282409943”>too </a>, (ahh(*shameface*), excuse me Peter, but thankyou for the forum!), and I was graced with suggestions from readers.

I have had peripheral* effects also *(unless you subscribe that it is really a systemic/ mitochondrial dysfunction afterall). Last year I had weird inflammation in several tendons of my feet, shrugged at by docs. It was chronic and very disturbing. This cleared with more time, spent keto, and no other intervention I can say. Additionally, I have since discovered that I’ve had chronic uveitis for 20+yrs, as I’ve had a spontaneous remission from this in the last month, and can see with an acuity that I had never fathomed. I am amazed, light behaves completely differently to how I understood it previously. The world, to my senses, was enveloped in a sort of fuzzy chiaroscuro. I’m realising that felt quite insular, contrasted to now, whereby I feel as if I’ve gained a superpower. Even subtle interference affects considerable distortion it seems. This is where I may diverge from you, as I suspect my maternal granny’s psoriasis (concomitant with uveitis, CD vs UC) is part of the issue, esp with PPARy polymorphism(?)/expression, but this maybe <a href=”http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ppar/2012/620839/”>moot. Still if this is relevant to your UC PPAR ligands may be worth trying. </a> i.e. Here’s a snippet: “Another intriguing possibility is that the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling to PPARγ is impaired in UC...”

Which leads me to what I think has helped my uveitis. I am awkward to suggest tho, cause I struggle to see how it could feasibly have this effect in a minute dose. Ok, since my previous post, I have not changed my diet at all, nor anything else. I have added LDN@4.5mg/ day, encouraged by <a href=” <a href=”http://hopefulgeranium.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/our-first-song-for-today-is.html”> George’s blog.</a> I have really wondered if you can have a placebo effect for a disease that you didn’t know you had (i.e. uveitis)? The dose is so small to effect TLR4 antagonism, but I wonder if it works in some synergy with a high fat diet that promotes PPAR, to <a href=”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24717912”> swing the balance. </a> Possibly it liberates PPARα, y from inhibition by TLR4, and a keto diet rich in PPAR ligands slingshots the reversal, additionally inhibiting TLR4 signalling to boot?. Additive synthesis? This mechanism is hypothesised in the previous link re UC.

I have also, a few weeks back, added 250mg/d metformin, to further <a href=”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24973221”> inhibit NF-κB </a>and this has seemingly <a href=”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22562515”> enhanced the recision of my uveitis even further. </a> Additionally, without changing eating habits at all, I have bumped up from a BMI of 17 to 20, a feat only possible due to altering the inflammatory cytokine expression which which in itself promotes fiaf. In an extra aside, generally, I also suspect hyperinsulinemia is involved, and everything you can do to reduce insulin signaling would help...

I was in very bad shape four months ago. I had kidney stones and burnt through most of my fat stores (had not much to lose) and much muscle, during this attack. I have built up to hiking hills for 1-2 hours/day and I suppose, possibly, resistance exercise> mitochondrial biogenesis maybe a part of the equation? Though it never had a literally spectacular benefit for my vision, and other peripheral manifestations in previous iterations, not alone. Yes, it seems IBD is just too wonderfully complex a phenomenon.

Specious, you sound as if you are HLA B27 positive, especially the anterior uveitis. Comes with ankylosing spondylitis too. Starch restrict helps here and VLCK can achieve this accidentally (or deliberately). LDN is likely to help with all immune mediated problems I would guess but George knows far more about this than I do...

Peter: Splendid sleuthing! It’s admirable how you’ve just outclassed my docs. To where do I address a crate of butter?

I’m unfamiliar with this, but, some crash-speed reading has yielded intriguing familial insights, connections, The probability is definitely weighted for this dx. And I just spotted in your library some HLA B27 posts that I’ll look at.

For the starch/klebsiella aspect I found this statement:http://www.discoverymedicine.com/Taha-Rashid/2011/09/12/gut-mediated-and-hla-b27-associated-arthritis-an-emphasis-on-ankylosing-spondylitis-and-crohns-disease-with-a-proposal-for-the-use-of-new-treatment/

3). Another fundamental support for the role of gut and the intestinal flora in the development of SpAs in relation to the presence of HLA-B27 genes is the absence of arthritis and colitis in germ-free HLA-B27-transgenic rats and the induction of these features when the rats were relocated to non germ-free environment (Hammer et al., 1990).

It’s curious that 4yrs of impersonating a germ free mouse (by virtue of temp. ileostomy), whilst asymptomatic of CD and with CRP <1 did not yield remission from the uveitis. And now it has rescinded by, seemingly, grace of LDN, my CRP is reduced, but 22. In my mouse days, I was chronically sleep deprived (dratted ileostomy) and dehydrated by 3+ kilos minimum. Though Gottschall approved, my very hclf diet prob. drove hyperinsulinemia. So, despite ‘germ free’ status there may be some mechanisms not assoc. with klebsiellia/gram negative action... Alternatively maybe I am better nourished now I have exchanged fats for fruit. I also wonder if my (psoriasis associated?) hypercholesteremia is functionally beneficial, and like you indicated, being vlc/k, I am still to considerable extent mimicking this germ free state, without those previous insults.

I’ve always intuited my granny, with her psoriasis, indigestion, pyoderma gangrenosum, osteoporosis, compressed spine, with the later three attributed to “aging” is a founding member of my issues. However, amazingly, she is as sharp as a tack mentally and as willful as an (unfortunately sociopathic) bull at 93yrs old. She has starved herself since the depression in the 30’s, but her diet is stubbornly wheat-centric.

My mother long ago suffered a frozen shoulder. Since then, all manner of odd joint “tightness” emerges in stressful moments. These linger, and reveal nothing upon investigation. She has a general fear of movement/ exercise that everyone has concluded is a psychosomatic/ emotional problem, due to aforementioned granny. This sheds light otherwise!

When 17, I noticed my knees clicked, and seemed arthritic, and this vanished when I took up an ill-fated raw-food diet, i.e. accidentally sans starch. I was dx with osteopenia in my early twenties!

Ps. just spotted a rain-sodden koala curled in a ball, high up on a swaying eucalyptus, level and abut the electrical cabling. Another one was half a kilometer down hill, a two meters from the terminal pylon. These koalas could be outliers, or maybe they enjoy aeolian lullabies.

There is an almost infinite supply of things that any single one of us doesn't know. Just occasionally we stumble over something useful. That's worth remembering. I have a lot of time for Prof Ebringer. HLA B27 has a convoluted involvement with our family through my wife, her PhD supervisor, Alan Ebringer and my undergraduate course. None of this means he's correct, but starch avoidance has a huge effect on B27 positive folks so I think he is. A maverick too.

@SS,I am truly glad you are recovering. Body indeed keeps disassembling and re-assembling itself, and it is an advantage in your situation. I went through mineral rodon treatments couple times in a Caucasus region in Pyatigorsk, but I was living in Russia back then. I wish I knew then what I know now. At least my son controls his allergies by avoiding wheat and limiting grains. Unfortunately, the possibilities of an immune system screwing one's health are endless.

re: I'm also embarrassed that I even contemplated that the cress might fail to germinate next to the router(s).

Perhaps you had the device accidentally set to Pregnant Women:http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/24/pregnant-women-wi-fi-router-qihoo-xiaomi-fight-china

One wonders just what that vendor changes in that setting, and how they arrived at the details, given that they admit “We aren’t scientists. We haven’t done many experiments to prove how much damage the radiation from Wi-Fi can cause. We leave the right of choice to our customers.”

Trivially avoided non-native EMFs are probably worth avoiding until all the facts are in (as General Turgidson would say). Using a bluetooth headset, for example, cuts the RF to your brain mitochondria by at least two orders of magnitude. Frees up a hand, too.

Thanks to everyone regarding the comments on my tendenosis. I have gone to VLCK diet and am much improved. I have reoccurring conjunctivitis as well so found Specious Sine's comments on her uveitis to be very interesting. It seems to me that both UC and CD affect the body similarly. It would seem that Lutz's Life Without Bread was right on about limiting carbs and avoiding gluten. I must say I found the article on Equine Grain-Associated Disorders to be very interesting even if I now feel I suffer from Hoof and Mouth disease. LOL. I really appreciate you taking time to share, there is a total dearth of info out there unless one knows where to look. JJ

I just want to add one more thing to the Equine-Grain-Associated-Disorders/Human-Metabolic-Syndrome connection. I remember how while reading Dr.Eades's book "Protein Power", the book "All creatures great and small" written by a British veterinarian surfaced in my memory. It was mentioned in the vet's book twice that for some unknown reason in hopeless cases of laminites only one remedy worked - bloodletting. Dr.Eades suggested in his book that an excessive accumulation of iron was contributing a lot to the inflammation state of human body. Dr. Eades recently changed the format of his blog, I couldn't detect a "search" option there, but here is the article on WPF web-site describing Dr.Eadeses point of view on the subject http://www.westonaprice.org/book-reviews/protein-power-lifeplan-by-michael-and-mary-eades/. So, due to Drs.Eades my allergies-prone husband and son keep donating blood for at least last 4 years, and probably I reached the age when a female should start to do it too. We also supplement magnesium. I guess when health shows different manifestations of a inflammation and one has reached the point that something more should be done or checked, checking serum iron concentration, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation and serum ferritin could be a reasonable action while taking 600 mg a day of easily absorbed magnesium supplement is never a bad idea for everyone.

Something else I’ve noticed: Last week I acquired some bacteria hitched to a doz. oysters. Apart from the immediate and usual fallout, I noticed my eye sight is more blurred, and patches of dermatitis flared behind each knee. This latter I can only recall occurring in my gluten-days. I guess(?) this shows the action of some cross reactivity of bacterial antigens to my own collagen via molecular mimicry, as it’s specific. I also read how klebsiella, and other gram neg bacteria can subsist nicely in the small intestine on sugars, especially if you’ve had surgery here and anatomical perturbation. (Enter stage left, SIBO) Possibly even small amounts of carbs, besides starch, provide sufficient substrate to perpetuate immune signaling for those inclined. I don’t want to desist with macadamias and chocolate, but, maybe this is why zero carb is the final frontier for some. Unfortunately I do seem better without, to my chagrin. (Ps. magnesium citrate irritates my gut.)

Galina,

Thanks :). “If only...”, a familiar refrain! We’re in the midst of endless permutations, at all scales...

About Me

I am Petro Dobromylskyj, always known as Peter. I'm a vet, trained at the RVC, London University. I was fortunate enough to intercalate a BSc degree in physiology in to my veterinary degree. I was even more fortunate to study under Patrick Wall at UCH, who set me on course to become a veterinary anaesthetist, mostly working on acute pain control. That led to the Certificate then Diploma in Veterinary Anaesthesia and enough publications to allow me to enter the European College of Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia as a de facto founding member. Anaesthesia teaches you a lot. Basic science is combined with the occasional need to act rapidly. Wrong decisions can reward you with catastrophe in seconds. Thinking is mandatory.
I stumbled on to nutrition completely by accident. Once you have been taught to think, it's hard to stop. I think about lots of things. These are some of them.

Organisation (or lack of it)!

The "labels" function on this blog has been used to function as an index and I've tended to group similar subjects together by using labels starting with identical text. If they're numbered within a similar label, start with (1). The archive is predominantly to show the posts I've put up in the last month, if people want to keep track of recent goings on. I might change it to the previous week if I ever get to time to put up enough posts in a week to justify it. That seems to be the best I can do within the limits of this blogging software!